Harry Potter is a twit. He suffers from a terrible case of Watson Disease, so common in mystery novels.
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11:32:24 PM,
Sunday 17 July 2005
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"When president George Bush said that the vile practices recorded at Abu Ghraib did not represent America, he was right. They don't. They represent his administration and his policies. Of that there can no longer be any reasonable doubt."
-Andrew Sullivan
He goes through the newly revealed report on the interrogation techniques at Guantanamo. I feel ill. I hope he's right that it's a disease of the administration, and not the military.
As some of you may remember, I used to believe in government, that since it had the power to do good, it had the obligation to do so. The trouble is when it tries to do good without knowing how; or when the people desperately want the government to do something beyond it's ability.
I do, to a certain extent, still believe that the constitution of our government will protect us from this spreading, from a police state taking root. Perhaps I'm a fool. The theory is that they managed to do these things, but they had to set up an elaborate legal sandbox. The courts would stop it from becoming widespread, from happening domestically. The Senate is braying, the search engines find results. (They wouldn't in China). It did spread to Iraq, horrifyingly. But the combination of democracy and established limits on presidential authority should end that, given time. Democracy is damned slow, and it doesn't stop evil or incompetence, just provides a way of bringing them to an end, should people want to.
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(1)
03:34:29 PM,
Thursday 14 July 2005
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Yesterday, I was savaged by my cat. It was my fault, I was talking on the phone, walking back and forth. If you walk back and forth without trailing something small and jingly, well, that's you're lookout.
Last night, I had a dream. I was Radar, and we were in charge of keeping track of Saddam Hussein. The Colonel had died, and I was left in charge. Morale was bad, and all I had to offer were nickels, which I threw at people while singing. When this didn't work, I went looking for the chaplin. While I was looking, Saddam had turned into a cat, who looked just like Atari, and I couldn't tell them apart. One of them got out, but I wasn't sure which one it was.
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11:10:39 AM,
Thursday 14 July 2005
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I love moving average trend lines.
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12:49:28 PM,
Wednesday 13 July 2005
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Tentitive vacation plan:
Day 1, drive to Quebec City, staying here
Day 2, wander around the city. (walled city! French Canadians!)
Day 3, drive to the Gaspesie (go along south shore of St. Lawrence Seaway until it stops). Camp.
Day 4, Hike in Forillon National Park (Seals!)
Day 5, Take a boat to Bonaventure Isle (Gannets!) Walk to Perce Rock in the evening. (More Gannets!)
Day 6, Go Sea Kayaking, or, if insane, hang gliding. Drive to Parc de la Gaspesie. Stay here
Day 7, Climb Mont Albert (Caribou! High Moose Densities!)
Day 8, Start driving home. Stay at cheap motel in northern Maine.
Day 9, Go home.
The other temptation is the Iles de la Madeleine, but getting there would be complicated, and it's a bit beachy.
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(2)
10:22:35 PM,
Sunday 10 July 2005
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I think Laurie Anderson is about to be removed from my computer, mostly for this bit of nastiness:
"He looked like he might have been a hat check clerk at an ice rink, which, in fact, he turned out to be. And I said "Oh boy. Right. Again. *clapclap*"
For some reason, this strikes me as particularly hateful and self-aggrandizing, somehow. Or perhaps I'm just grumpy.
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12:01:45 PM,
Friday 8 July 2005
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Today, I am dissatisfied with the overall quality of my clients. Are state employees born or made? That is, does working for the state sap the work ethic right out of people, or do state jobs attract state employees? Or are state jobs a kind of wier across the river off life, where the more bouyent eventually float free, but the waterlogged stay forever? Whatever the cause, what can be done about it? Abolish pensions? More pay? Fewer rights? Privatization? Less contracting? More contracting? More centralization? Occasionally firing entire departments and starting from scratch? Or, horrifying thought, is it like this everywhere?
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(5)
11:04:59 AM,
Friday 8 July 2005
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This morning when I removed my helmet, I had the peculiar impression that I had just unmolded my head.
In related news, I occasionally worry about whether I've remembered my helmet and tied my shoelaces when I drive.
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07:49:30 AM,
Friday 8 July 2005
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Had a third idea for a game. Think, um, weightless rubber-ball racing, would be one way to put it. But, see, no propulsion, no steering. All you can control is the spin. Clearly, collisions become a serious issue. A 2d version wouldn't take very long at all. Somewhere between Katamari Damacy, RC Pro Am, and pinball. But first, I need to get back to work on my second idea. Stupid gainful employment, sucking up all my monitor-time.
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07:46:50 AM,
Friday 8 July 2005
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Well, this is distracting. My brother takes the tube to work every morning, from the Tower vacinity to Mayfair. Presumably he's having a hectic day.
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(2)
11:46:23 AM,
Thursday 7 July 2005
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Stayed up all night reading Scalia's A Matter of Interpretation. I had forgotten how enjoyable political philosophy is. It centered around the problems of using common law lawyering techniques on statutes.
The comments were fun, though not always to read. If Lawrence Tribe isn't a conceited disingenuous claptrap he needs to sue his prose style for defamation. They were fun because they showed you various avenues of escape from Scalia's reasoning, none of which held much appeal. The exception was a fascinating essay by Mary Ann Glendon discussing how countries without a common law tradition had fared, and what techniques they used, and the problems they ran into. I may need to find books she's written.
I keep wanting to parrot back arguments and images, but I will not do them justice, and don't have the book here to quote from.
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10:32:17 AM,
Thursday 7 July 2005
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Someone needs to buy our President a good pair of cycling gloves.
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08:29:17 PM,
Wednesday 6 July 2005
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site & script courtesy of Moss
